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Adequate selections are given in Morley, 18-20, and in Symonds's Shakespeare's Predecessors in the English Drama, 188-201. Pollard and Manly give several good selections from other Interludes. What were some of the purposes for which Interludes were written? How did they aid in the development of the drama? In what different forms are The Four-P's, Ralph Royster Doyster, and Gorboduc written?
The Rise of the Drama in England; the Miracle plays, Moralities, and Interludes; our first play, "Ralph Royster Doyster"; the first true English comedy, "Gammer Gurton's Needle," and the first tragedy, "Gorboduc"; the conflict between classic and native ideals in the English drama.
The artistic drama may have purpose, no less than the Miracle play, but the motive is always subordinate to the chief end of representing life itself. The first true play in English, with a regular plot, divided into acts and scenes, is probably the comedy, "Ralph Royster Doyster."
The oldest known English comedy, Ralph Royster Doyster, was written by Nicholas Udall, and describes a character whose comic misadventures are somewhat akin to Don Quixote. The earliest tragedy, Gorboduc, known also Ferrex and Porrex, was played in the Lower Temple. It is founded on the legends of fabulous British history.
Most of the characters of Gammer Gurton's Needle are from the lowest English working classes, and its language, unlike that of Ralph Royster Doyster, which has little to offend, is very coarse. Gorboduc and the Dramatic Unities. The tragedy of Gorboduc, the first regular English tragedy written in blank verse, was acted in 1561, three years before the birth of Shakespeare.
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